Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” returns to the Metropolitan Opera for eight performances. The opera will open on Nov. 30 and will be performed through Dec. 23, 2023 with a cast that includes Austrian tenor Andreas Schager, South African soprano Elza van den Heever as Elisabeth, and Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova as Venus. The cast will be rounded out by German baritone Christian Gerhaher {…}
The Bayreuth Festival has announced its 2024 season. The festival will open with Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” starring Andreas Schager, Günther Groissböck, Camilla Nylund, Olafur Sigurdarson, Birger Radde, and Ekaterina Gubanova. Semyon Bychkov conducts the production by Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson. Performance Dates: July 25-August 26 2024 Günther Groissböck, Klaus Florian Vogt, Markus Eiche, Olafur Sigurdarson, Jens-Erik Aasbø, and Elisabeth Teige {…}
The Semperoper Dresden has announced its 2023-24 season. Here is a look at the operatic productions of the season. Premieres Puccini’s “Turandot” is set to star Elisabeth Teige, Aleksei Kulagin, Yonghoon Lee, and Elbenita Kajtazi. Ivan Repušić conducts the new production by Marie-Eve Signeyrole. Performance Dates: Oct. 7-Nov. 25, 2023 Mary Plazas, Katerina von Bennigsen, Peter Tantsits, and Andrew Nolen {…}
Semperoper Dresden is set to present a concert performance of Verdi’s “Attila” for the first time in the company’s history. The famed Verdi opera will feature Georg Zeppenfeld, Andrzej Dobber, Anna Smirnova, Tomislav Mužek, Timothy Oliver, and Tilmann Rönnebeck, under the baton of Jordi Bernàcer. Zeppenfeld will be making his role debut as the title character while Mužek will take {…}
(© Semperoper Dresden/Matthias Creutziger) Semperoper Dresden is set to bring back Willy Decker’s production of “Der Ring des Nibelungen” this February. This revival will celebrate the 20th anniversary of this staging’s first performances and the first in five years. In sum, there will be two cycles – one starting on Jan. 27 and running through Feb. 1 and a second {…}
The Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis announced its 10th annual awards on Sept. 13, 2022. Anna Netrebko took home the Best Female Leading Role for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth in “Macbeth” while George Zeppenfeld won Best Male Leading role for in “Parsifal.” The Theater an der Wien also received awards for the best opera production (“The Fiery Angel”), for which Andrea Breth {…}
The Bayreuth Festival has announced its 2023 season. The season will open with Pablo Heras-Casado conducting a new production of “Parsifal” with Joseph Calleja making his role debut in the title role, Ekaterina Semenchuk as Kundry, and Georg Zeppenfeld as Gurnemanz. The company also noted that “Tannhäuser” will be conducted by Nathalie Stutzmann. Meanwhile, the company announced that it will {…}
This week audiences will get to hear the second album by one of the rising tenors in the opera world as well as world premiere recordings and a DVD recording of a Wagner work. The Paper Lined Shack Supertrain Records is set to release Jeff Beal’s titular song cycle performed by the brilliant soprano Hilá Plitmann and Eastman Philharmonia and {…}
The Staatskapelle Dresden has announced its 2022-23 season with many vocal highlights. Here is a look. Philippe Herreweghe conducts Dorothee Mields, Sophie Harmsen, Alex Potter, Reinoud Van Mechelen, and Krešimir Stražanac in Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Performance Dates: Feb. 13 & 14, 2023 Christian Thielemann and Diana Damrau team up for an evening of Richard Strauss. Performance Dates: April {…}
The Bayreuth Festival has announced its 2022 season. The festival will open with a production of “Tristan und Isolde” conducted by Cornelius Meister. The production by Roland Schwab will star Stephen Gould and Catherine Foster in the title roles as well as Georg Zeppenfeld, Markus Eiche, and Ekaterina Gubanova. Performance Dates: July 25 & August 12, 2022 The festival will present {…}
This week audiences will get to hear two new recordings of complete operas and will also get to discover a new voice in the opera world. Here is a look at this week’s new releases. The Snow Queen Bayerisches Staatsoper Recordings releases Hans Abrahamsen’s “The Snow Queen” on DVD. The opera, which is an adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Andersen {…}